I'm tired of anemic guitar amps!

[Chuz Life]

Would you be interested in selling that tube?

I'm sorry, toobfreak - I found that pic online, after a search, using your descriptions.

Just to add a visual to what you were describing.

If I had one, I'd give it to ya.

I can help you look for one, also.

Raytheon 6A6 on EBAY; Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[toobfreak]

If I had one, I'd give it to ya.

Tanks!

I can help you look for one, also.
Raytheon 6A6 on EBAY; Pardon Our Interruption...

Purdy neat. Still working and in the box! I thought it cool to have a Raytheon tube considering that:

1. An old buddy was an MIT grad employee of Raytheon (he worked on defense systems).
2. Raytheon was principle in releasing the first practical home microwave ovens, called the Radar-range (Raytheon originally made tubes and battery eliminators then got into electronics starting with military radar components.

 

[Chuz Life]

My buddy used to painstakingly restore stuff like that, you should have seen some of the fantastic stuff he restored. I'll never forget this all chrome tubed Fisher tuner he was restoring for somebody. Covered in tubes, the chassis was all chrome and each of the many tubes each had a chrome cover too Might have even had a tuning eye. Thing looked like a 1950 Cadillac. Must have weighed 60 pounds. The stuff looked like and worked like new when he was finished.

But he passed away 16 years ago. Here's a picture I took of him standing next to a three way home stereo tower we were building. What you see there is a tweeter horn, a midrange cabinet, and a bass cabinet (all empty) which actually tied into the floor and used the cavity under the room as its bass enclosure.

View attachment 1219641

Tanks! View attachment 1219861



Purdy neat. Still working and in the box! I thought it cool to have a Raytheon tube considering that:

1. An old buddy was an MIT grad employee of Raytheon (he worked on defense systems).
2. Raytheon was principle in releasing the first practical home microwave ovens, called the Radar-range (Raytheon originally made tubes and battery eliminators then got into electronics starting with military radar components.

I almost landed a job there once.

I got to see a test laser they were developing on the roof of the building. It was huge by the standards back then.

 

[Chuz Life]

I found this pic in my old work photos and had to share it.

 

[toobfreak]

I found this pic in my old work photos and had to share it.

View attachment 1219893

Applied properly, all it takes is 25 volts to kill you.

 

[toobfreak]

Applied properly, all it takes is 25 volts to kill you.

Well, to be fair, it isn't the voltage which kills you but the current. Apply 25VAC across the heart in a way to gain low enough resistance through the body, and the electric current can stop the heart.

 

[scruffy]

I've been checking into those old 4-pin tubes. Turns out, many of them had no actual cathode. Or let's say, the cathode was equated with whichever side of the heater was connected to ground. Which gave you somewhat limited options in terms of biasing.

So some of those 4 pin tubes could be triodes, and some of the detectors might only use 3 pins.

Here for example is a 301 tube, which was a popular 4 pin triode.

The only modern arrangement like this is in the rectifier tubes like 5U4GB, which have no cathode either, just two filament pins and two plate pins. In circuits the rectified HV is taken from one of the heater pins.

 

[scruffy]

This is interesting history!

The earliest radios used no tubes at all, they were just fancy crystal radios. The first ones used a "galena whisker" as a diode.

When the tubes came they first needed batteries, because no one had AC yet, and in some places it was even DC. But when AC came to the home, there were companies that wanted everyone to buy their cheap radios, and they didn't want to use transformers because they were half the cost of the whole device. So they went through a period where they tried to power everything straight off the wall. And this meant, they had to wire the heaters for the tubes in series, because no 6.3 volts because no transformer.

So this is when cathodes became popular, because suddenly you had heaters sitting 50 volts above ground.

This idea of powering straight off the wall resurfaced several times. When the first 7 and 9 pin miniature tubes started coming out, there were a lot of compact radios from that period with no transformers, and tubes like 50C5, 35W4, and so on. Then the idea resurfaced again when the ultra-mini tubes came out and the radios got even smaller, because Eveready and Duracell weren't in all the 7-11's yet.

I remember building a geiger counter when I was 9 or so, it used a 45 volt battery to power the photo multiplier tube. I had to go the electronics store to buy one and they had to special order it.

Hm. Once I tried powering a 100 watt amp off my car, with an inverter. It lasted about half an hour.

 

[toobfreak]

The earliest radios used no tubes at all, they were just fancy crystal radios. The first ones used a "galena whisker" as a diode.

The cat whisker detector. Tubes were not needed in the radio detection other than to raise the signal to a level where it could be sent out to power other devices.

Years ago, Radio Shack sold a crystal radio. It worked! Your antenna was the house wiring (you screwed your lead to a grounded light switch screw), and you could hear the station in an ear bud!

You learn so much more about how stuff works by first understanding the most primitive technologies because they were so much more dependent on physical laws and processes. It gives you so much better an appreciation for current technology by giving contrast and perspective.

Alas, I don't think they are not teaching elemental technology to electronics students anymore. I had a teacher who worked on ENIAC. I once tried to teach a kid how a slide rule worked and she could not grasp how a 2 on the scale could represent .2, 2, 20, or 200. She said: "Thank god for calculators!" Calcs were not even allowed in my schools.

I once met a graduating class getting their pictures taken and asked them to tell me what a Fleming valve was.

Deer in the headlights moment.

 

[Chuz Life]

This is interesting history!

The earliest radios used no tubes at all, they were just fancy crystal radios. The first ones used a "galena whisker" as a diode.

When the tubes came they first needed batteries, because no one had AC yet, and in some places it was even DC. But when AC came to the home, there were companies that wanted everyone to buy their cheap radios, and they didn't want to use transformers because they were half the cost of the whole device. So they went through a period where they tried to power everything straight off the wall. And this meant, they had to wire the heaters for the tubes in series, because no 6.3 volts because no transformer.

So this is when cathodes became popular, because suddenly you had heaters sitting 50 volts above ground.

This idea of powering straight off the wall resurfaced several times. When the first 7 and 9 pin miniature tubes started coming out, there were a lot of compact radios from that period with no transformers, and tubes like 50C5, 35W4, and so on. Then the idea resurfaced again when the ultra-mini tubes came out and the radios got even smaller, because Eveready and Duracell weren't in all the 7-11's yet.

I remember building a geiger counter when I was 9 or so, it used a 45 volt battery to power the photo multiplier tube. I had to go the electronics store to buy one and they had to special order it.

Hm. Once I tried powering a 100 watt amp off my car, with an inverter. It lasted about half an hour.

I tried building the crystal radios when I was a kid, using books from the school library.I wrapped coils around toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes, even an oatmeal (round) box.

I had several influences that drove my interests when I was really young but oddly enough, I was the only one of eight kids in the home that had any interest in electronics, taking things apart or studying how they worked.

My grandfather did though on mechanical things.

 

[Chuz Life]

The cat whisker detector. Tubes were not needed in the radio detection other than to raise the signal to a level where it could be sent out to power other devices.

Years ago, Radio Shack sold a crystal radio. It worked! Your antenna was the house wiring (you screwed your lead to a grounded light switch screw), and you could hear the station in an ear bud!

You learn so much more about how stuff works by first understanding the most primitive technologies because they were so much more dependent on physical laws and processes. It gives you so much better an appreciation for current technology by giving contrast and perspective.

Alas, I don't think they are not teaching elemental technology to electronics students anymore. I had a teacher who worked on ENIAC. I once tried to teach a kid how a slide rule worked and she could not grasp how a 2 on the scale could represent .2, 2, 20, or 200. She said: "Thank god for calculators!" Calcs were not even allowed in my schools.

I once met a graduating class getting their pictures taken and asked them to tell me what a Fleming valve was.

Deer in the headlights moment.

Radio Shack managed to **** up a really good idea with cheap made junk. But, for a while they had no real competition.

 

[scruffy]

I tried building the crystal radios when I was a kid, using books from the school library.I wrapped coils around toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes, even an oatmeal (round) box.

Did you get them to work?

My first one, the 5th grade teacher gave us a stick and a roll of wire and a couple of nails.

I had several influences that drove my interests when I was really young but oddly enough, I was the only one of eight kids in the home that had any interest in electronics, taking things apart or studying how they worked.

I used to put the earphone under my pillow and listen to Dodger games at night.

My grandfather did though on mechanical things.

I wasn't allowed to keep the volume of large tools. My parents used to scream whenever I attempted chassis work, which was mostly just drilling. When I got the first lay down transformer I discovered nibbling tools, they work fine on those thin Bud chassis but they disintegrate on full size gear. I had to keep everything in "one suitcase" so my mom wouldn't get mad, she was pretty tidy.

 

[Chuz Life]

Did you get them to work?

On one, I got some super distorted sounds like the edge of someone talking. Then lost it while trying to get it better.

My first one, the 5th grade teacher gave us a stick and a roll of wire and a couple of nails.

I wish!

My (public) school had nothing like that.

I used to put the earphone under my pillow and listen to Dodger games at night.

Now, that is something I kind of did do. I had a leather housed PSB radio and I used the bedspring from the top bunk of the bed as an antenna. (I can't find a pic)

I wasn't allowed to keep the volume of large tools. My parents used to scream whenever I attempted chassis work, which was mostly just drilling. When I got the first lay down transformer I discovered nibbling tools, they work fine on those thin Bud chassis but they disintegrate on full size gear. I had to keep everything in "one suitcase" so my mom wouldn't get mad, she was pretty tidy.

We had a drunk uncle that worked on TV's and stereos radios (self taught.) When he was around, I would ask him questions as he worked on things, then he would get enough to get drunk and arrested or?? And when he was gone long enough, I inherited his junk box until he would come back again. LOL

 

[toobfreak]

Radio Shack managed to **** up a really good idea with cheap made junk. But, for a while they had no real competition.

Funny though how times change. I used to stop in a Radio Shack every day on my way home from school and gawk at the stereos. Then there was Olsons, more for the hobbyist, plus many stereo chains and stores selling all manor of stereo gear from department store to high end stuff like Magneplanar, Audio Research, Threshold and Thiel.

Not any more.

I still have a bunch of little booklets published by Radio Shack all on many of the basic circuit designs. Most of them like new. Actually pretty useful little books on getting started in making everything from power supplies to little amplifiers.

 

[scruffy]

Funny though how times change. I used to stop in a Radio Shack every day on my way home from school and gawk at the stereos. Then there was Olsons, more for the hobbyist, plus many stereo chains and stores selling all manor of stereo gear from department store to high end stuff like Magneplanar, Audio Research, Threshold and Thiel.

Not any more.

I still have a bunch of little booklets published by Radio Shack all on many of the basic circuit designs. Most of them like new. Actually pretty useful little books on getting started in making everything from power supplies to little amplifiers.

Yeah, Olson's. And Lafayette. I still have a bunch of Eico gear, like an audio signal generator (with octal tubes that refuse to die), a signal tracer with a nice little green eye tube, like that. Tools of the trade.

 

[toobfreak]

Yeah, Olson's. And Lafayette.

Oh, you had Lafayette too? I guess that used to be a bigger chain than I realized.

I still have a bunch of Eico gear, like an audio signal generator (with octal tubes that refuse to die), a signal tracer with a nice little green eye tube, like that. Tools of the trade.

Eico is an industry standard of the old analog gear. Stuff was bulletproof. I'd be surprised if I didn't use some Eico gear in lab back when I was studying electronics.

 

[scruffy]

Oh, you had Lafayette too? I guess that used to be a bigger chain than I realized.


Eico is an industry standard of the old analog gear. Stuff was bulletproof. I'd be surprised if I didn't use some Eico gear in lab back when I was studying electronics.

Heathkit! When my son was young wifey was teaching at the university, and we used to go eat in the cafeteria over there. My son was already building kits at the time, he liked rockets and drones and stuff like that, so one day we're at the university eating these pre-fab salads where they have a tray on top with the chicken and cheese n stuff, and my son's trying to mix one and the stuff's going all over the place, and he looks at me and goes "this is dumb, why don't they just mix it before they give it you". I started laughing, I almost had a coke-in-the-nostrils moment. I said, "it's a kit, son. You have to put it together yourself".

Y'know... this is a state university so everything's portion controlled. Sometimes you have to scrape to get your portion. And they're only allowed to charge by the portion, so you get these oddball prices like 3.64 for a burger. Anyway yeah, I digress. I must have spent a small fortune at Estes. I finally had to put him to work cause of the negative cash flow lol

 

[Chuz Life]

Progress on the bench!

I know, I got sloppy with the stain, I plan on painting the shelf portion or I might stain it too.

None of the equipment is powered. I just mocked it up and took a pic.

Any suggestions to make it better?

 

[scruffy]

Any suggestions to make it better?

It needs an amp chassis!

With wires coming out of it!

 

[toobfreak]

Progress on the bench!
I know, I got sloppy with the stain, I plan on painting the shelf portion or I might stain it too.
None of the equipment is powered. I just mocked it up and took a pic.

Looks impressive! You pretty much have just about all the bases covered. I'm envious. If you need anything else (like a big variac?), I guess it'll depend on what you work on, but it would be a real shame to have all that and not use the stuff a lot!